Book 3 The Shadows: obscured by the shadows

Edgy found himself reaching Starry’s direction as he watched her leave, before falling back.

Once they had seen her off in the distance, he and Tempest settled back on their haunches on a nearby bench. The park they were in had gone back to its peaceful tranquility. All the ponies watching on had trotted off back to their homes as the excitement died down and the sun began to fall.

Tempest was waiting for this opportunity.

She took one last look to make sure no other pony was in hearing distance.

“So...you remember...everything that happened to you before you came here?”

Edgy nodded and looked away from Tempest.

“I wanted to say that I’m glad you’re doing okay. You managed to fit in,” Tempest continued, in an awkward businesslike manner, “You probably heard about what happened.”

Edgy nodded.

“What do you think you’ll be doing after this?”

Edgy hadn’t thought about it before, but...

“There’s nothing for me out there anymore,” he finally admitted, “I’ve quit the mercenary way of life. I’ve quit being the villain in my own story. I’ve got someone I want to take care of.”

The memory of a long, terrifying wait crossed his mind. He shifted his weight a bit. Tempest had left some bruises on his right flank and it made it hard to sit.

“So, what about you?’

Tempest shrugged.

“I’m not sure. I think I’ll travel more. Maybe take a friend with me,” she chuckled.

“Who?”

“You wouldn’t know her.”

“Oh.”

The evening air was getting chillier. Edgy continued looking off into the distance.

He opened his mouth to ask her something, but he was suddenly cut short by a voice calling out from the sky above them.

“She’s missing!” it said, loud and panicked.

Tempest was a little confused and tried to look up, but Edgy dove lower to the ground and put a hoof around her to push her down, too, as a pegasus pony crashed onto the ground behind them, nearly grazing them as she swooped by.

The two ponies turned around to see a frenzied Cass panting and gulping air as she tried to hurriedly tell them something.

“...it was...somepony...sudden...can’t breathe...took her...took Starry...”

That was all he needed to hear.

“Take me to her!” he commanded.

Cass finally stopped panting and nodded before flapping her wings and taking off toward the woods with the two ponies following closely behind on the ground. After a minute, she finally seemed to be well enough to make coherent sentences again.

“Some figure in a dark cloak just came and took her away! I saw them head off this way and had to get you two.”

“This cloak,” Tempest chimed in, “was there a symbol on it?”

“I couldn’t really tell…”

“Hmm, there has to be hoofprints or some sign of them from where you last saw your friend.”

They came to the edge of the woods and Cass nodded.

“Yes, I think...yes, right here!” she called out. And sure enough when the other two ponies looked at the ground, though it was a little hard to make out in the dying light, there were some tracks in the ground, showing some sort of large creature had come through there recently.

Edgy could only think of one thing to do.

He didn’t even care that Cass was there to see. He needed to find Star and make sure she was okay. He whispered to his hoof and two minipones came out.

Cass looked on curiously as the two shadows found form and stepped onto the ground near the tracks before hovering into the forest ahead of them.

“Follow me. I can see them just fine no matter how dark it gets,” Edgy told Tempest as he began following them into the woods.

“What about me?” Cass called out as they began trotting away.

“Stay put! I don’t need another innocent pony in danger,” Edgy yelled back as he vanished into the brush.

Edgy and Tempest slammed through the trees and found themselves heading across another clearing before going into trees again. The world around them was barely lit, but the minipones were still clearly visible. Even when they went through the trees again, the minipones seemed to give off a dark glow of their own.

Tempest had to follow along, quickly guessing which way Edgy was turning so that they were nearly in step with each other.

It didn’t take long with the two racing onward before they found themselves coming up to a large structure in the middle of nowhere.